Probe body submits report on Sinha killing

The probe committee conducting the inquiry into the killing of Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan submitted its report to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday, but the ministry is yet to make the committee's findings public as another investigation, following a court order, is ongoing.

Mizanur Rahman, the chief of the four-member committee, handed over the probe report and supplementary documents to the minister at the home ministry yesterday.

"They [probe committee members] have come with a full report before us. We haven't seen it yet. Later, our secretary will analyse it and take necessary actions [on the basis of the report]," the minister said.

As the police are currently conducting another investigation, following a court order, the minister said they will not be able to publicly reveal the findings of the report, adding that they will inform the court about the report and if the court deems it necessary, can formally collect it from the ministry.

On July 31, the ex-army major was shot dead by police at Shamlapur checkpoint on Marine Drive in Teknaf, triggering a firestorm of criticism across the country.

Several police officials, including the then officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station Pradeep Kumar Das and sub-inspector Liaqat Ali, who shot Sinha, were arrested and are now facing interrogation.

The probe committee, formed by the home ministry on August 2, was supposed to give its report within seven working days, but had its deadline extended three times.

While submitting the probe report, Mizanur Rahman, also an additional divisional commissioner of Chattogram, said the committee members have spoken to 68 people related to the killing incident and recorded their statements.

"We have analysed [their statements and relevant facts] to find out the source and reason [of the killing] and gave recommendations [to stop recurrence of such incidents]," he said.

Without revealing the specific contents of the report, he also said, "This incident will not diminish the role of our police force in maintaining law and order in the country."

Sources said the committee placed 13 such recommendations in its 80-page main probe report, which includes photos and statements of the people they spoke with.

Earlier, The Daily Star reported that the committee was unable to obtain the call recordings of around 30 people related to the incident, and would mention this as a "limitation" of the investigation when submitting its findings to the home ministry.

Despite having on hand the call lists of people, including Pradeep and Liaqat, the committee was unable to obtain the call recordings of those 30 people from the authorities concerned.

The other members of the committee are Shahjahan Ali, additional district magistrate of Cox's Bazar; Lt Col SM Sazzad Hossain, representative of the armed forces division of Bangladesh Army; and Zakir Hossain Khan, additional deputy inspector general of Chattogram range.

Replying to another question yesterday, the home minister said they would work so that such unfortunate incidents do not recur.

He said the army and police maintain a cordial relationship and both forces are working for the country.

When his attention was drawn to a video clip which has been doing the rounds on social media, showing Pradeep and Liaqat telling someone that they had been tortured in remand, the minister said they do not care about such videos, they work on fact-based news.

Meanwhile, two more murder cases were filed against Pradeep and a few others including policemen with a court in Cox's Bazar yesterday.